澳门科技大学 西方电影赏析 复习

西方电影赏析

1.Important figures in the early history of film development (including their main contribution

of film):

[1] Lumiere brothers;

(French) used the “cinematograph” to both record and show films; Held the first public motion picture screening in Paris, 1895.

[2] Edison;

1887: 1st patent for motion picture camera; 1891: invented kinetograph (early film camera) &kinetoscope (single viewer projection). Vitascope; Sandow-1894; Bike-1899; Kiss-1900; Eggs-1902; School-1904.

[3] George Melies;

A French surrealist - magician and filmmaker; The inventor of special effects, esp. in sci-fi films; Opened first theater in France, (1896); A popular film about space travel:Trip to the Moon, (1902).

[4] Edwin S. Porter;

Shot America’s first narrative films, The Great Train Robbery(1903), Life of an American Fireman (1903); Shot scenes out of order -- later edit in sequence; Shot first close-up (特寫鏡頭).

[5] Sergei Eisentein;

a revolutionary Russian film director and theorist; known for his silent films including Strike, October and his most notable being Battleship Potemkin.; the use of montage.

[6] D. W. Griffith;

American; He was one of the first directors to play around with the raw elements of moviemaking, such as lighting, continuity, editing and acting; His most notable production was “Birth of a Nation” made in 1915.

[7] Robert Flaherty;

an American filmmaker; directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North (1922).

2. Three basic economic divisions of the movie industry.

PRODUCTION: camera and projector technology, scripting, filming; DISTRIBUTION: marketing and delivering films into theaters; EXHIBITION: the theater industry that delivers movies to the public.

3.The first sound film.

The Jazz Singer

4. The three most influential comedians of Silent Era in Hollywood.

Harold Lloyd , Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton

5. The “ big five ” and the “ little three ” (their names and some famous films related).

The “Big Five” or the Majors:---Warner Brothers(became prominent by 1927 due to its introduction of talkies (The Jazz Singer 1927), and early 30s gangster films; it was known as the "Depression studio"; in the 40s, it specialized in Bugs Bunny animations and other cartoons.) --Paramount; --20th Century Fox; --Loew's (MGM) (Gone With the Wind); --RKO (owned by RCA)(musicals in the 30s, King Kong (1933), and Citizen Kane (1941))The “Little Three” or the Minors: --United Artists; --Columbia(established prominence with It happened one night (1934), Rita Hayworth films, Lost Horizon (1937) The Jolson Story (1946), and Batman serials.); --Universal.(its first successes were W.C. Fields and Abbott and Costello comedies, the Flash